Timed Times
by Storyboard Sketch
Summary: When young twins Ella and Darwin are pulled out of the year 2035, they quickly learn that their family history isn't at all what they expected.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Where did it all start I wonder? I guess it began at the beginning for us. My name is Darwin, I am….well…. I guess I don't really know exactly what I am. On the exterior, I am a mutant turtle like the four you will meet in this story soon enough however there are several things that separate us. The first is that my skin is a pale tan like a human's and my shell is white, they of course have the classic green skin and yellow shell combo. Secondly, our ages…. when I met them at least they were older and taller than me. Third, my only sibling is my sister….more about her later. Fourthly, my sister and I both have four fingers while they have three. Finally, and this is the most important….the time periods we live in. Yeah, LONG STRANGE story about how we met though that big problem… I guess I should explain huh?

Ella (thats my sister) and I have always been…well orphans. We never knew our parents or our origins and no one will tell us. Uncle Casey refused to talk about it and Aunt April always burst into tears when we asked so eventually we stopped asking. However, the one thing the two of us did know is that martial arts are in our blood, our uncle enrolled us and we quickly earned our black belts in multiple styles….me more so than my sister. Other than that skill though, we don't know anything….or rather we didn't know anything back then.

That was all about to change for us one year during the summer when our uncle took us camping in one of the few forests left on Earth 1….

I remember I was reading a book that afternoon when Ella smacked me with a classic old fashioned Earthen water weapon known as a "water balloon". Lots of fun, but real annoying if you're not expecting it. Also a digital book doesn't take well to water…

"Come on Darwin!" She called out to me since I had been sitting in front of the tent. "It's summer! Put down that digi-book! Lets have a water balloon fight!"

Ella is….vastly different from me but at the same time it's clear we're siblings. Twins in fact, but that part's hard to tell. She's humanoid in almost everything except for the fact that….she has green skin. Yeah… Ella got that part of the turtle DNA and she's always dying her hair a different color so I have no idea what the real color of it is any more. This week's look was jet black so she looked a bit like a witch from old Earthen classic films that we watched when we were little-er.

I put my flat screen down since it would take a while to dry from the amount of water that had hit it from Ella's spot on aim. As if I was one to refuse a challenge from my sibling? No way!

"Pass the ammo and run sis!" I smirked as she fled leaving a second bucket full of the harmless grenades.

"Woopsie!" She laughed as she vanished into the woods, the perfect cover and battleground for us.

Just some summer fun for us while Uncle Casey was off getting the supplies he had forgotten to bring. The battle between us didn't last to long since we were both pretty good at dodging the colorful water bombs. I won with my last balloon when she had run out of ammo. After a bit of pouting from my sister and light (VERY light) gloating on my part… We decided to dry off on the rocks by the river. It was a bit far from our campsite but we could take care of ourselves….or so we thought.

"Hey Darwin?" Ella was lying flat on the rocks behind me as her clothes dried off on her as well as the rest of her.

"Yeah?" I was content to lean up against the stones, feeling the sunbeams on my face since I have no need to wear a mask. "What is it?"

"Why do you think Casey brought us out here?" Her question was something that had been bothering me as well. "It's a bit out of character for him don't you think? Normally April's the one to take us on a trip."

"I don't know…" I pondered that for a bit before chuckling at the only answer I could think of. "Heh, maybe April made him do this as punishment for something stupid he did."

"Yeah I could see that." Ella laughed as well before sitting up. "Well, I'm dry. How about you?"

"Yep." I stood up and stretched my arms a bit from sitting there for so long. "You wanna head back or-"

I didn't get to finish as a large vortex opened right in front of us and began to pull us in.

"Darwin! What's happening?" Ella grabbed hold of a tree limb nearby to try to keep herself from getting sucked in to the swirling hole.

"Don't ask me!" I shouted back above the winds, holding on to her hand since she had grabbed me before I got dragged into the thing.

Of course… We're not big enough or strong enough to oppose the vortex forever. It didn't take long for Ella to lose her grip and we both went flying into the mouth of the portal and everything went black….


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When I came to, I remember how cold it was all around me and how hard the metal and concrete was under my body. I was also hurting, most likely from the fall….Sweet cosmos my shell was aching. Aside from the cold and the hurt which had come to mind first, I began to notice people talking around me….well two but their voices weren't at all familiar to me so I chose to keep my eyes closed as I listened to them.

"…but you said I could pull the lever!"

"I said that you could WHEN I was done with modifying it! Which I was not! Now thanks to your little action the whole device has shorted out!"

"Aw shell… Now how are we gonna get these kids home?" I felt a poke to my shoulder but didn't respond.

"I'm sure I can fix this, but for now we best tell the others about your blunder. Hopefully, I can repair the damage you caused before these two wake up. Now come on Mikey, lets go."

"Okay, but this one's an albino turtle. Don't you think that-"

"No."

"Aww…. You've no sense of curiosity some days Don."

As I heard their footsteps fade, I opened my eyes and sat up with a rather annoyed look.

"I'm NOT an albino…" That was something I tended to hear a lot and I was getting tired of it.

I took in my surroundings and considering the mixture of metal pipes, brick, moss, and concrete that made up the walls and ceiling, the only reasonable conclusion I could come to was that we were underground somewhere. Behind me was a huge metal loop that had multiple wires, lights, and circuit boards exposed on it and smoke coming out from several places. To my mind it looked both old fashioned and modern at the same time. Which was weird to see such a mix of technology in our time.

"Weird." I looked down at my sister beside me and gently shook her shoulder to wake her up. "Ella! Ella wake up!"

"Ugh… What hit us?" She rubbed her head as she got up on her hands and knees, obviously sore as well. "And where the shell are we?!"

"I don't know…" I was worried about the unknown state of our situation as well. "But it looks like the old photos of underground areas in our history lessons…..uh….I can't remember what they're called but I thought they had all been filled in long ago with the development of public atom disposal."

We got to our feet and dusted ourselves off, thats when sis noticed why my shell had been hurting more than normal.

"Darwin, your shell's been cracked." She put her hand on one spot just behind my right shoulder.

"We have to get that treated as soon as we can," I knew the risk of having a crack in my shell. "I certainly don't want it to get any worse."

"Yeah… That would be very bad." My sister's concern was shared as we looked around to find a way out of here.

However, we soon found that there was only one way in and out of the room… A door to where we could hear more conversations going on with more than just the two we heard earlier. Exchanging a worried glance but knowing we had no choice, Ella and I looked though the opening between the door and frame since the other two hadn't closed it all the way. You can imagine our surprise at seeing what we did.

"Darwin…" Ella spoke to me in a hushed whisper so only I could hear her. "They….they're…."

"I know…" I was just as stunned as she was to be seeing what I was seeing. "They're like me…"

The arguing group was comprised of four other mutant turtles, each with a different colored mask that covered their eyes. Thanks to me having heard two of them earlier, I could distinguish those two from the others by their voices alone. However making out what was being said by the whole group was hard since three of them were all talking at the same time.

"STOP!" Finally the one in the blue mask had had enough of the arguing. "All of you knock it off! It doesn't matter who's to blame here, what DOES matter is the fact that we now have to deal with the situation at hand. So if you guys are done arguing we should focus on figuring out how to repair the teleporter."

"Umm…" My sister spoke up causing me to look at her with surprise. "Excuse us?"

"What are you doing?!" I asked her in a harsh whisper as the other four looked back at us.

"Oh come on Darwin, it's not like we have many options here" She glared at me for a moment before stepping out of the doorway to address the group before us. "Sorry to interrupt but… could you tell us where we are?"

"Oh boy…" I sighed, but followed behind my sister.

Apparently my own appearance was a surprise to those who hadn't seen me yet, since two of the older turtles took a step back when I came out.

"See?!" The one in the orange mask (whom I knew was called Mikey) gestured back at me as he looked at the one in the red.

"Shut up Mikey…" He grumbled back at him.

I exchanged looks of mixed annoyance and amusement with my sister at seeing this.

"Oh boy, how do I explain this….?" Apparently the one called Donnie, who wore the violet mask was having a hard time trying to figure out the best way to explain it to us.

"We can wait." I couldn't help but smile about the fact that all of us were uncomfortable in this situation…except for two.

My sister had remained calm yet curious about these new turtles and the one in blue seemed completely calm about all of this. He was the one who approached the two of us first to talk to us directly.

"While he figures out how to talk again, why don't you two tell us your names?" At least he was nice about it and had a slightly humorous look on the situation.

"I'm Darwin, and this is my sister Ella." I motioned to my sister when I said her name.

"Whoa… You two look nothing alike. One turtle and one human?" Mikey pointed out the obvious.

"Seen weirder." The one in the red mask remained unimpressed.

That didn't stop Mikey from asking another question."So… Who's older?"

"We're twins." Us two siblings were so used to answering this question we both spoke at the same time.

The four stared at us for a time, also something we're used to.

"Okay you win." The grumpy one finally broke the awkward silence.

"Don't mind him," The one before us who seemed to be in charge right now. "I'm Leonardo, and those are my brothers Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo." He had motioned to each in turn so we knew who was who. "Our sensei is out at the moment since he wanted to speak with our friends for a while, but when he comes back I'll introduce you to him as well."

"If I can't fix the teleporter before then." Donatello muttered with crossed arms. "You see you two," He glared at Mikey to prove his point. "My "genius" brother here activated the thing before I was finished modifying it from teleporter to time viewer so incidents like this wouldn't happen. You two happened to be caught by the unstable energy and were pulled out of your time and into ours."

"WHAT!?" Just the concept was mind blowing to us.

"Relax," Mikey smiled at the two of us. "Donnie here can fix anything with wires in it. We'll get you home in no time!"

"I'm not so sure it'll be so easy…" Ella had opened the door again and was over looking the device. "The whole thing is fried."

"Here we go again…" I was always annoyed slightly by my sister's rants about technology that she had picked up from spending too much time from O'Neil Corp.

"What do you mean?" Donnie approached the door way to watch Ella as she walked around the device.

Ella took a look over the whole thing before taking a breath and giving her analysis. "The wires are mostly burnt out, the circuit boards have melted holes in them, the lights are majorly blown, and the coolant system seems to have run dry causing the whole issue."

Time elapsed: 5 seconds. Reaction from Don: Priceless.

"Don, do you know her?" Mikey chuckled at the green girl's rant and the stunned look on his brother's face. "Cause it seems you got a fan."

"Nah, I just hang out at our aunt's business way too much." Ella shrugged it off. "Anyway, this is going to take days to repair. If you can retrieve the parts you need easily that is."

"Your aunt?" Leonardo seemed a bit puzzled by that. "What about your parents? Won't they be worried about you two?"

"Don't know." I answered that question as I leaned against the wall. "We never knew them."

"Oh, sorry…" He quickly backed off of that subject

"Its fine," I waved it off. "its just our aunt and uncle refuse to talk about them. We're in the dark about the subject as well." When I moved my shell slightly I winced from the bruises I had got.

"Darwin, you okay?" Ella instantly was worried.

"Yeah, just sore from the tumble we took." I tried to calm her down. "I'll be fine sis."

She made a face but dropped the subject, man… I hate it when she makes that face.

"How bad is it Don?" Raphael asked the tech wiz of their group.

"Well, she's right about the damage to the machine." He sighed at how much work was ahead of him. "Some of these parts aren't exactly easy to find."

"We can help!" Ella offered with a smile. "I can fix a computer or vehicle on my own with supervision, I'm sure I can help with the repairs."

"Hmm…" Donnie seemed conflicted. "How old are you kids?"

Ella was about to answer but I did it for her, "We're thirteen. Plenty old enough to be doing stuff like this."

"Okay then," that seemed to be a load off of his mind to hear that. "I could sure use the help on this. But… What about your brother there?"

"Darwin's fast on his feet," Ella put her hand on my shoulder with a grin. "I'm sure he can find and retrieve any other parts we need from around the area."

"Sis please," I looked away, not feeling I deserved the praise for out running several dogs. "It's not something to boast about. I'm not that fast…"

"Yeah you are!" She poked my shoulder gently. "Why do you think the kids in class call you Para Troopa?"

"Now is not the time to talk about that…." I grumbled, shesh, I hated that nickname.

"Para Troopa?" Mikey grinned at hearing that. "You mean like from a video game?"

I groaned, this was going to be a very LONG several days if my sister kept this up. I walked away from the exchange between my sister and Mikey to take a look around where we had ended up. I recognized the martial arts training equipment off in one area for ninjutsu, that explained the masks. Ninjas huh? That was cool in my book. The multitude of televisions on the other side of the main room made me believe that they used them a LOT. It was finding a group photo on a table that caught my attention.

"Hey Ella," I called back to my twin as I stared at it. "You should reallllllllllly see this."

"Hmm?" She seemed puzzled as she joined me. "What'cha got there bro?"

"Take a look." I passed her the photo. "Anything seem familiar?"

After a moment I saw her eyes widen as she realized who else was in the picture aside from the group of turtles we had just met. "No…way…."

"What is it you two?" Leonardo came over to find out what had upset us.

"These two in the photo," I pointed them out to him since Ella was frozen by surprise. "They look just like our aunt and uncle. Younger, but they still look like them."

"What?" Don came over with the others to see this for himself.

"Yeah, here," I explained this to them. "She looks just like our Aunt April and the guy there looks just like Uncle Casey."

"Wait….wait." Raphael was trying to wrap his head around this. "April and Casey are your relatives?"

"Friends of the family they say but yeah." Then it hit me. "Oh…"

There was an awkward silence all around as we all realized what exactly we all were to each other. Firstly, my sister and I were in the distant past so we were beings of the future. Thats all nice and awesome but…given the fact that I am a mutant turtle like the four brothers in front of us and my sister gained the green skin of a turtle….. The chances of our dad being one of these guys was extremely high.

That fact alone seemed to have stunned everyone as we all stared at each other in realization of it.

"…"

"…."

"…aw shell…"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Okay," I took a breath to relax. "Everyone just…. Try to calm down."

"This is so freaky…" Mikey muttered, probably trying to decide wether to be nervous or excited about the whole situation.

"Cody mentioned nothing about this!" Don seemed more upset about the fact that they didn't get much of a warning.

"He probably didn't want to spoil things for us," Leo (I found out his nickname later) had calmed himself down after I had. "You know how he was about that journal. There's no way he would've told us about this."

"Listen guys," I put the photo down to talk to the others. "We had no idea about any of this either. Maybe its best for all of us if we don't think too hard about this."

"Yeah," Ella nodded her agreement. "It….its just too weird to think about right now."

"What I don't get is why Casey and April don't talk about us anymore," Raphael seemed offended. "The Casey I know can't shut his mouth."

"Well….what's the date of this year?" I asked, trying to find a logical reason for all this confusion.

"2005," Leo answered straight away. "How about you?"

"Where we're from it's 2035." I knew what year it was for me and my sister. "So…its been 30 years. A lot can happen in that time span."

"Look at you," Ella poked my shoulder teasingly. "I thought you failed math."

"Well I'm not stupid," I replied bluntly, crossing my arms. "I just really don't like answering too many stupid questions….."

"You are surprisingly mature for your age young turtle." A new voice made us all look over at the main door way where an anthropomorphic rat stood, watching us with a small smile on his face.

"Thank you, I guess…" I wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

"Master Splinter! I can explain!" Donnie looked worried.

"Then explain Donatello." Their sensei looked at the brainiac of the group for an answer.

While Donnie was explaining himself the rest of us walked away to talk some more amongst ourselves.

"Didn't April and Casey give you kids any hints at all?" Raph still wanted to know why their friends in the future hadn't informed the twins about the four of them.

"Well…." Ellla thought for a moment. "When we were signed up for our martial arts class Aunt April let slip that our father would've never forgiven her if she hadn't done that."

I took a look around the place once more at all the dents in the walls and the training equipment. "Yeah, I can see why she would let that out now."

"Which of the martial arts do you guys know?" Mikey had to ask.

"Well," I explained it to them. "We both know ninjutsu but for some reason sis there never really got into it."

"I don't like having to hurt my own brother alright?" She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Boy, I sure know how that feels." Donnie and Master Splinter rejoined our group.

"So, you children are the descendants of my sons." Splinter knelt down to our level to speak to us face to face. "Since you are going to be staying here for a time, allow me to be the first to say, welcome to the family children."

"Thank you," My sister spoke up as we bowed to him politely. "Grandfather."

That made him smile a bit more as he placed his hands on our shoulders when we straightened up again.

"The least we can do for you since you lost proper training for many years, is to expand upon your knowledge of ninjutsu. All of us." He looked up at his sons to make his point before looking back at us. "Have you been trained with any weapons yet?"

"I was talented with the shuriken," I informed him recalling our own training. "But… Ella never got to use anything."

I saw her look down at her hands. "I don't know how you do it Darwin…"

"Oh come on, you're not so bad." I tried to cheer her up. "You out matched all the other kids in our class. Just… Not me."

"Hmm…" Master Splinter looked thoughtful as he listened to us. "Donatello, take your brothers with you to the surface to gather the parts you need. I believe these two could use some simple training with me."

"Of course sensei." The other four bowed and then headed out quickly.

Leo stopped however and looked back at us. "You two gonna be alright here?"

"Of course!" Ella replied with a smile and a wink.

"Thanks for the concern," I told him, crossing my arms."but we should be fine."

"Okay…" He vanished through the doorway.

I understood his concern, if anything happened to us here… Not only could the future be altered but also April and Casey would be crushed. Master Splinter stood up and took us over to the sparring mat in the training area.

"Now young ones… Show me what you can do." He told the two of us. "A simple match between the two of you will show me what you need to improve upon."

"Sure." We nodded.

I saw the instant change in my sister's eyes as we took our places. If there was one thing my sister had lost over time it was self confidence and that often led to her down fall. Once again she made the first move, striking for my shoulder and collar bone but blocking and dodging her blows was easy as usual. I grabbed her arm and flipped her over my shoulder. She landed on her feet as usual and proceeded to try and take out my legs. I jumped away from the strike then came back when she stood up with an arm thrust to her middle. That sent her to the ground quickly, coughing.

"At least you lasted longer this time." I complimented her as I gave her a hand up. "Come on Ella… Don't be so down."

She looked away as Splinter joined us having noticed the problem for my sister.

"Ella, your lack of self confidence will land you in danger if you can't get it back." He told her. "Hmm… Donatello said you were talented with machines. Why don't you try and repair his computer over there?" He gestured to a rather ancient looking machine. "I'll work with your brother for now."

"Thank you sensei." She bowed to him as she went off to do her tech thing.

"Darwin," Splinter addressed me when Ella was out of ear shot. "How long has she been like this?"

"For quite a while," I admitted to him. "She lost her first contest in the final round to a Triceraton bully named Solace. He's never let her forget it… Before all that, she was just as good as I am."

"I see…" He looked rather thoughtful. "I have an idea on how to fix that. For now however young turtle, lets work on your ability to strike when an opening is available."

I readied myself once more. "I'm ready sensei."

That was only going to be the first time of many that I had my tail handed to me by my grandfather…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

When the others returned I was getting a patch put on the crack in my shell so it wouldn't get worse…and Ella had brought me some ice for my aching everything. After some light teasing from Mikey, my sister and I were dismissed back to the workroom where we had first showed up: now unofficially considered our room for the time being. However, even when the door was closed it didn't stop us from eavesdropping on their conversation outside.

"My sons," Master Splinter addressed all four of the turtles. "I have watched and tested the skill level of each of the twins. Although they have been trained well by the tutor that April took them to… It is not even close to the skill level they could be at."

"Hey…" I glared at the door in front of me.

"Shh…" My sister hushed me as we listened.

"So what is your decision on them sensei?" That was Leo, ever so respectful.

"I do believe that you are all fully capable of handling a student of your own," Splinter was probably looking at them all directly now. "However… Darwin and Ella require different kinds of training to bring out the best in them. So, two of you will train them yourselves, the others will focus on keeping peace above and repairing the device that brought them here in the first place."

There was a quiet 'awesome' from Mikey as they waited for their sensei to announce his decision.

"Darwin has confidence and potential, however he needs to learn restraint. There is a time when to, and when not to attack. And no one knows this better than you Leonardo. I trust you will find a way to aid Darwin in controlling his strength."

"Thank you sensei," Leo was probably bowing to him right now. "I will do my best."

"Sure give me the guy with the dual swords…" I muttered under my breath, not too happy about the arrangement.

"Master, what about Ella?" Donatello sounded a bit concerned about my sister.

"Yes… She is a gentle soul and has lost the confidence to strike another. What Ella truly requires is someone who will be able to keep that confidence up until she can keep it intact on her own. There is only one of you whom I believe has that skill…"

"Yes! That would be me!" That was Raph whom by far I knew had the most self confidence of the group.

"No Raphael," Splinter shot him down quickly. "Your methods would break Ella's already weak spirit and we can't have that."

"What?" The turtle sounded confused. "Who then? Donnie?"

"No not him either." I could see the old master shaking his head. "Michelangelo, you will be tasked with training Ella."

"WHAT?!" Everyone was surprised at that announcement even us.

"Uhh… No disrespect sensei," Donnie spoke up with a thought. "But Mikey isn't exactly the most responsible turtle in the world."

"Donatello, you would be distracted by Ella's brilliant mind and would neglect her training." Splinter explained his decision to his sons. "What she needs is a way to regain the confidence she lost while regaining the skills she needs to succeed."

"A-And you think I'll know best how to do that?" Even Mikey was too surprised himself to make a joke.

"I do." Splinter confirmed his son's thoughts, I assume with a nod. "Now… Darwin, Ella, you two can come out of eavesdropping now."

Hearing our names made us freeze.

"I know you're listening."

Slowly we opened the door looking out at the other group as the older turtles stood up from having been sitting before their sensei. I saw Master Splinter shaking his head in amusement at our actions.

"Just like them…" He muttered.

Of course, our training had to wait until tomorrow since Ella and I were both tired from Master Splinter's teaching methods and sore from the journey here. Donnie moved some of his inventions out of the way and the others had found two small bed rolls for Ella and I to sleep on.

"We used to use these when we were kids." Leo told us as Ella and I unrolled the bundles. "You guys are free to use them until you leave."

"Thanks you guys." Ella smiled at them.

"Don't mention it." Raph was still slightly bitter about Mikey getting to train a student before him and left promptly.

"Is he EVER happy?" I couldn't help but be the slightest bit annoyed by the grouch.

"Oh sure," Mikey chuckled. "Usually after he's beaten some unfortunate alien or robot into a trash can lid he gets a smile on his face."

I heard Ella giggle behind me at just the mental image of what Mikey had described. The others wished us good night and left us be in our current "room" I suppose you could call it. Ella and I had our beds on opposite sides of the room but sleep right now wasn't exactly the first thing on our minds.

"What do make of it?" Ella asked me as she looked up at the ceiling, hands folded over her chest. "This whole situation I mean."

"Part of me thinks that this is all a dream and I'll wake up from it at any moment," I would only ever admit this to her. "But I don't and it just keeps going on and on."

"And the rest of you?" She inquired, looking over at me.

"I don't know." I put my hands behind my head. "Its all so…odd. I mean, time travel? Come on, even today's greatest minds haven't been able to get that right. And…our family is a clan of ninjas? Heh, I never would've guessed that."

"You gotta admit though," A bright smile appeared on Ella's face. "It is totally AWE-SOME."

"True dat!" I laughed, there was no denying that fact.

After a bit of laughter and then some time to calm down, Ella spoke the one thing I had been to scared to say.

"You think Casey knows we're gone?"

"Hopefully we'll get back soon enough he won't even notice." I quickly calmed her fears. "Lets keep our hope up okay?"

"Okay…" I could hear the sigh in her voice.

"Come on Ella," I smirked to try and get her a bit more optimistic. "You're the genius here. What are the chances that you and Donatello, also obviously a genius since he made the thing that brought us here, won't be able to figure out a way to get that thing to take us home?"

"Low." She mumbled.

"Exactly." I smiled now that she had that figured out. "Lets just enjoy this little bit of time while it lasts. We may never get another chance to know what our real family is like."

"Alright," She rolled over on her mat. "Night Darwin."

"Good night Ella." I told her as my sister fell asleep.

I still wonder though… If the other members of our newly found family were just as nervous as we were about all of this. I don't think I'll ever know the answer to that.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Training with Leo wasn't easy, I'll tell you that right now. He flipped me back on my shell more times than I can count. Mind you, this was all just bare handed while Ella got to learn how to use the nunchaku with Mikey. Was I jealous? Nah, honestly I was glad I was just learning how to use only my body as a weapon instead of using the katana that Leonardo always had with him. See… I had my own idea of where I wanted to go with my training even after we left this time period. I used shuriken in class before, so why not make that my main weapon? Of course it would have to be a larger version of a shuriken. However, some of my previous ways of fighting were swiftly broken thanks to Leonardo's training. I would attack the moment I could but this constantly left me open for a blow and was constantly beaten. Leo left it to me to learn how to get better with only a few tips here and there. So, I began watching how Leo sparred against me and by copying how he fought, I began to last longer in the matches against him.

"Watch your footwork Darwin." He once warned me for the fourth time.

"Yes sir." I automatically shifted my position.

Ella was training hard as well with Mikey. Although I admit at first it looked more like games than it did training. Races through the sewer lines, some kind of tag, and the usual hide-and-go-seek were the normal thing that Mikey had planned for the first few days. Soon, myself and the others realized the true point of these games had an important place in Ella's training. Endurance, evasiveness, and avoiding detection were key points in being a ninja. Also, since Ella needed to regain confidence in her heart, this was the perfect way to do so….with fun. Seemed Master Splinter had been right about Mikey being the perfect teacher for Ella. After about three days, when Ella was bright and enjoying herself once more, then Mikey gave her a practice wooden nunchaku to mimic his style with. I gotta say she was getting the hang of the weapon quite rapidly. However…. I think some of Mikey's goofiness rubbed off on her….

"Hey Darwin," She had borrowed some clothes from the April of this time. "How do I look?"

"Like an engineer." I told her since the shirt was yellow.

"You mean like a…" A sly smile appeared on her face.

"Don't say it…." I tried to stop her.

"TRAIN engineer!"

"Ugh…" Oh the headaches that day from both her's and Mikey's train jokes.

Raph on the other hand was a good fight to test mine and Ella's team work. That was the role he played in our training. Still, outside of training I noticed he had a small soft spot for the two of us. Taking great care not to leave his weapons unattended and warning us multiple times not to follow them outside when they left the lair. He even tolerated Ella's small attempts to try and cheer him up which were (as Mikey put it) adorable to watch.

"Uncle Raphie!" Thats what Ella called him all the time, that day she hung onto the back of the couch behind him. "Uh oh, I know that scowl. What happened now?"

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with kiddo." He brushed off her concern but he didn't turn away as he normally did.

There was a pause then Ella poke his nose with a finger. "Boop!"

"Humph." He turned his head away with a grunt but the rest of us caught a ghost of a smile on his face.

Still, when we weren't training and the others were up on the surface. We were listening to stories from Master Splinter about the past adventures they had endured. The origin of their mutation, all the battles they had had with a rather cruel person called the Shredder, alien encounters, and so much more. Ella and I couldn't help but listen, they were all amazing and if we were descended from these guys… we could be just as great. I knew it was a long road for us to reach that level but these stories gave us both inspiration and will power to keep going through the rough training.

"Oh THAT'S who Donnie meant when he mentions Cody." Now we understood after that story.

"Yes, the descendant of the April and Casey Jones you both already know." Splinter smiled before continuing on.

Ella would often find a way to sneak in a way to watch Donatello while he worked. At first he was annoyed with her presence, constantly shooing her out of the workshop or calling Mikey to remove her from the room. Slowly however, I began to see him enjoy having a small assistant around to pass him the next tool he needed or locate a part faster than he could. Those two were geniuses, although, Ella learned a lot in her time with him as she asked questions about each piece of the device. Seems Don was more than happy to have someone to talk "techie" with.

"Don, you left your screwdriver on the band saw again."

"Woops!" He was quite embarrassed about being so careless. "That could've ended badly."

For me though, I knew we didn't have much time together. As soon as the teleporter was done, Ella and I would have to go home. I could see the reality of the matter hitting the others as Don neared completion of the machine. Leo was training me harder than ever and Mikey had allowed Ella to attempt to spar with him. It was hitting everyone very hard.

"Leo, you don't have to hide it from me," I decided to bring it up with him when we were walking through the sewer pipes checking the perimeter for any possible foes. "I know you and the others are worried about us. We'll be fine, we promised to continue our training at home."

"We're not worried about you Darwin," Was his reply to me. "We just don't want to see you go. Regardless of the time span between us….you and your sister are family. Saying goodbye to family is never easy."

However… What happened to us on that final day, is something I will never forget.

That day during our break from training, the four older turtles had been out on the surface for some time and we were all getting concerned.

"They should've been back by now." I heard Ella mutter.

"I know…" I crossed my arms. "I don't like it."

That was when we saw Master Splinter stand up. "Children, stay here."

"Yes Grandfather." We bowed our heads to him as he headed out.

"Come on sis," I stood up. "Lets wait in our room for them."

"Okay, I could use some meditation." She followed right behind me. "Sitting and worrying is boring, may as well complete the package with the closed eyes that is granted to make me fall asleep!"

I laughed as I closed the door behind us. She did always end up falling asleep during meditation, but what else could we do? We were forbidden from going up to the surface, we were still rookies compared to our teachers, and we didn't know the area around us very well at all. I looked around and found a few bits of scrap metal that Don had left lying around. Soon an idea formed in my head, sis already had her weapon… I could at least make mine right? This was poor material but it would do for now.

"Hey sis," I looked over at my tech-head of a sister. "Give me a hand."

"Darwin…" She eyed me suspiciously. "You know Donatello doesn't like it when we mess with his things."

"Hey, I'm not about to head home without something to remember all this by." I informed her. "Now, are you gonna help me with this?"

She sighed but walked over to aid me with clearing off space on the work bench. I grabbed several iron rods and got to work on the structure of my weapon. With Ella's help I bent the first into a clean loop then focused on smelting together several sheets of metal in a furnace nearby to create four large steel blades. I smoothed those down to a dual edge, fused those to short yet thick metal rods then bonded those to the previously mentioned loop. I checked the balance and the weight on it. Although slightly heavy, it was perfect for the fighting style I was used to. It would fly well to, there were no warped edges or rods. My shuriken would need to cool down for now.

"Darwin," Ella's voice was hushed as she said my name. "You hear that?"

I stopped what I was doing to listen and soon I heard what she did, outside our door the gentle shuffling of feet clearly not from anyone who belonged there.

"Foot clan." Ella and I looked at each other knowing instantly who had invaded the lair thanks to Splinter's stories.

I put down my newly made shuriken since I hadn't practiced with it yet as Ella took out her nunchaku. If the Foot clan was here, that explained why everyone was taking forever to get back. They were battling them up above as well, so…only Ella and I were left to defend our home turf.

"Ella…." I looked over at her knowing that we probably stood no chance against these fully trained ninja outside. "Let's do this."

I saw her nod and we raced out to fight the black covered humans of Foot clan….that was quite possibly the biggest mistake of our lives. Given the choice however, I would gladly do it again. There was five of them and two of us, and I was without a weapon. We did our best, hitting them with everything we had and anything else nearby. Just trying to defend what had come to be our temporary home…but a smoke ball and a rope quickly ended that for us. The last thing I remember is a fist coming at my face….


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I woke up to the pounding sound of someone banging on metal. "Wake up turtle, or you'll miss the show."

I sat up, feeling pounded and I probably had a broken bone or too. I looked up to find myself in a small cell, across the room I could see Ella in another one already awake. The building I didn't recognize but I didn't need to upon seeing the person who stood before me just outside the bars.

"Karai…." My eyes narrowed at the black haired human with mixed hatred and rage.

"So you know of me? Good that makes things easier," She turned away as she placed her helmet upon her head. "By now surely Splinter and those turtles know you're gone and are headed here. Look forward to finally putting an end to them."

"You never beat our family before Karai," I walked to the front of my cell and glared at her from behind the bars. "What makes you think this time will be any different?!"

"It's cute how you think I'd tell you my plans." She smirked in amusement. "But I have uses for you two after all this, so I'll tell you after I've cleared out those pests."

"You leave them alone!" Ella snapped at the head of the Foot Clan. "We may be freaks….but look who's talking! Trained by a pink squid and now looking like tin cactus!"

If we hadn't been in such a situation, I would have laughed but I was in no mood for jokes. Apparently Karai wasn't either since two shuriken flew past mine and Ella's faces. I easily caught the one sent at me between two fingers while the one aimed at Ella embedded itself in the wall behind her.

"Silence!" Karai snapped at us. "You know nothing."

"We know enough Karai!" Ella's mouth refused to let Karai leave easily. "Between you and the Shredder, Foot Clan has harassed us for years! Let it go! Such a grudge is taking over your reality!"

"I will hunt them until they die!" Karai snapped at her. "And how did a human like you get pulled into their world anyway?! That is what I'd like to know."

"Really wouldn't you rather be interested in where he went?" With a smirk Ella pointed over at my now empty cell.

"What?!" Karai was shocked that I had gotten out.

"Surprise!" I jumped up and removed her helmet, leaping away before she could grab me.

I tossed the pointed helmet out the window, both to get rid of it and hopefully tell the others where we were.

"How did you get OUTTA THERE?!" Karai was furious as she leapt at me, only to have me roll out of the way.

"Oh wouldn't you love to know?" I taunted her, grabbing one of the shuriken from the weapon racks she had on the walls.

She growled as she attacked me with her clawed gauntlets. I easily parried her blows with the borrowed weapon I had obtained until she pulled back to a heavy blow then I leapt away from her. I landed beside one of the weapon displays and smacked an ancient looking harpoon machine. The spear went past the statue of the original Shredder that stood in the center of the room, Karai quickly dodged the torpedo of a weapon so it landed deep in the wall on the other side. She lunged at me but I caught sight of one of the openings in her attacks that Leo had told me about. I jumped up and kicked her in her chest sending her stumbling backwards. I threw my shuriken to the only place where I could pin her down, her shoe, pinning her fast to the ground. This was my only chance to keep her down, I couldn't fight her forever.

"Ella!" I called back to my sister. "You wanna do the honors?"

"Hey Karai!" Ella had now gotten out of her cell too and was standing behind the Shredder statue. "This is for messing with my brother!"

Ella jump-kicked the statue HARD making the huge thing topple over onto Karai with more force than the two of us had. We had the dark ninja pinned under at least a ton of rubble now, she wasn't getting up any time soon.

"H-How?" She glared at us, apparently having gone easy on us was her first mistake. "You're just a couple of brats!"

That was when the shock from having the breath knocked out of her by rock finally caused her to pass out.

"You forget Karai," I crossed my arms in front of her, more disappointed in her earlier lack of taking us seriously. "We may be kids, but we are also part of the same family that will ALWAYS bring you and your clan down."

"Darwin! Ella!" We looked up when we heard our names being called.

We turned around to see the others running into the room, only to stop and look around the place in surprise.

"Whoa, what happened here?" Donnie was shocked to see Karai having already been subdued.

"Uhh…" I exchanged a nervous look with Ella not sure how to answer.

Leonardo walked over to Karai to make sure she was still alive before addressing us. "Now which one of you is responsible for all this?"

After a moment I raised my hand, a bit afraid of what would happen after I did. To my surprise Leo simply smiled at the two of us. "Well done Darwin, you've both come farther than I thought."

"Thanks Leo." I smiled, feeling glad that for once I did something right.

"Man…" Mikey shook his head as he looked at what happened to Karai. "She's gonna be sore in the morning."

"I called her a tin cactus." Ella mentioned to him.

"THAT'S my girl!" He grabbed her up in one arm for a bit of a hug.

"Hey." Raphael approached us both, handing me my shuriken and Ella her nunchaku. "You left these back in the lair."

"Thanks Uncle Raphael." Ella smiled at him.

"Yeah yeah," He turned his back to us. "Just don't let it happen again."

"Lets go home," Leonardo looked around at everyone. "Master Splinter is going to want to hear about this."

No one was about to argue with him, we had all been fighting for the majority of the day. We did fully explain what had happened to Master Splinter when we returned, although he scolded us for engaging an enemy without thinking he was probably just glad we were all alive.

"How did you get out of that cage anyway?" Donnie asked us later that day as he was putting the finishing repairs onto the teleporter.

"She had tossed some shuriken at us when we annoyed her," I smiled as I gave him the short answer. "I use one to pick the lock."

"Dude….I would never have thought of that." Mikey was impressed.

As Donnie worked on finishing the teleporter's picky circuitry, I was wrapping up the gripping parts of my shuriken with white cloth so that I could keep a good grip on it in battle. Ella was finishing up leather holders for me to keep my shuriken on my back and another one for her nunchaku. When she was done. I quickly put mine on so I wouldn't lose it before we left.

"You two look great." Don told us with a smile. "Nice work Ella."

"Thank you." She grinned as she put her nunchaku away. "How's the teleporter coming?"

"It's done now." He looked over at it as he leaned against his desk. "But sensei and Leo said they had something for you guys."

"I wonder what's keeping them." Raph huffed, getting tired of waiting.

"Go figure." I shrugged the looked over at Donatello. "Hey, you need the date and place we left right?"

"Oh right." He returned to his computer as I told him where and when we had left Casey.

After we had that typed in, Leo and Master Splinter walked into the room with a small box.

"Where have you been?" Raph demanded to know.

"Sorry that took so long," Apologized Leo as everyone else looked at them. "We had to stop by April's place and get these from her."

"Get what?" I asked, now standing beside my sister.

"Close your eyes children." Splinter gently smiled at the two of us.

Although we didn't understand why, Ella and I obeyed our grandfather. I heard the box open and then I heard them both walk over to us. When I felt the feeling of fabric on my face, I instantly knew what it was and opened my eyes to looked up at Leo who was putting the mask on my face.

He laughed when he saw my slight surprise. "Come on, you didn't think we'd let you leave without these did you?"

"Dude! That is awsome!" Mikey sounded happy, looking at us with a huge grin. "You two look like true ninja now!"

I looked over at my sister who had the classic black mask of a ninja, it really made her blue eyes stand out. I reached back and gently grabbed hold of the line of extra fabric used to hold my mask on, pulling forward so I could see it's color: Green.

I smiled, letting the fabric fall from my hand as I looked up at Leo. "Thank you sensei."

He smiled but Don was the one who spoke. "Alright, lets get you kids home."

He typed in several keys and the teleporter sparked into life, now it was more like a window or a pond than the swirling vortex from before. We shared one last group hug with our family before we had to leave.

"Goodbye everyone." I told them all, knowing I would probably never be the same after all this.

"We won't forget you guys." Ella was close to tears when they let us go.

"Aw don't cry Ella," Raph used a finger to gently lift her chin up. "Keep your head high little warrior."

I heard her sniff but she nodded to him, understanding. We turned towards the teleporter opening and only glancing back at our family one more time… Jumped through the portal and back into our own time. We heard the opening close behind us as we landed on the grass in the forest. Ella and I looked back at the empty air where it had been, but there was nothing left to say.

"Darwin! Ella!" The sound of Casey calling for us got our attention. "Where are you kids?"

"Coming!" We both shouted and ran to find our uncle at the campsite.

Our family must have explained things to him in the past cause he took one look at our new appearance and smiled.

"So… I guess you know the truth now huh?" He chuckled as he rummaged through the back of our van, looking for something.

"Of our family yes," I answered him with a nod. "But we still know nothing about our parents."

"Well then… Perhaps these will help." He took out two long bundles of cloth and gave one to each of us. "Your father said that you should have these when you were old enough."

I exchanged a look with Ella before we carefully unwrapped the gifts and I heard Ella gasp when she saw what they were.

"Oh…." She really was crying now, mixed joy and sorrow. "Leo's katanas."

The blades were in their sheaths and when I took one out slightly to check the blade, they were both in pristine condition. This moment…was bittersweet for both of us, now we knew the truth.

"Leonardo's our father." I said it out loud just to hear it for myself.

We got a nod from Casey but we didn't what to hear of our family's fall so we were spared that part of the story. Ella and I recovered the katanas to protect them from the elements and we each decided to keep one.

Just to keep our family close at all times.


	7. Epilouge

**Epilouge:**

_One year later…._

Two dark figures darted across the roof tops of the busy city, doing their best to stay out of sight and in the darkness of night. They came to rest on one particularly large building marked "O'neil Tech" in bright neon several floors below them. They looked out at the lights before them and the mixed crowds below. The taller of the two crouched on the edge, his eyes seeming to glow white in the darkness.

"Things are quiet." He told the other who stood behind him, her black outfit hiding her better than himself. "They are always quiet."

"I guess our time doesn't need ninjas like us," Her blue eyes stood out from her black mask as she spoke to him. "Not right now at least."

"Yes I know…the whole one hundred years needing to pass like Grandfather told us about," He sighed now standing up. "One hundred years of peace until our kind are needed once more."

"That's how he remembers it at least," She shrugged, looking out at the peaceful city before them. "What now then oh fearless leader?"

Darwin looked back at her for a moment until there was an explosion down below and they looked down at the source and smiled. "Kraang….. They never give up. Do they?"

"Oh them and their wars." Ella chuckled as she twirled her double nunchaku a few times before putting them away. "Shall we go remind them of why they left this planet for skilled warriors of the night like us?" She paused as she thought for a moment. "And Batman."

Darwin let out a laugh as he took out his shuriken with a grin, "Seems this time needs us after all. Lets go show them how we roll Ella!"

"Shell shock time!" She shouted as they jumped down from the building and ran along the face of it.

The twin ninjas, one turtle and one human, engaged once more in battle to uphold the peace that their family had created.

_"So…this time may not be as exciting as our father's time…but it is OUR time, and we plan to make the most of it. What ever that may bring with it."_


End file.
